The US Navy announced that it has decided to interrupt the production of Constellation (FFG-62) frigates in terms of subsequent ships. During the re-examination of the $7.6 billion budget planning, the construction of the Constellation (FFG-62) and Congress (FFG-63) ships remained on the stage, while the cancellation of the production of the following four ships was taken into account.
Officials stated that this step is part of the Navy’s efforts to implement new ship classes that are consistent with its goal of building a fast and flexible fleet against future threats. An official emphasized that this decision was taken to expand the fleet and put the combat capability into wider and faster use and added the following statement: We are implementing a new construction strategy to strengthen the capabilities required for the future with ships that can be delivered faster.
With the suspension of the program, the current order book at the Marinette shipyard includes the last Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ship, scheduled for delivery in 2025, and four multi-purpose destroyers based on the Freedom design for the Royal Saudi Navy. Construction of Constellation is approximately 12% complete, costing the Navy approximately $2 billion; Congress allocated a total of 7.6 billion dollars for this project. While questions continue about how the remaining expenditures will be evaluated, a senior Navy official stated that they aim to reallocate these funds to ships that can be produced faster in Marinette by working with Congress in the coming weeks: We hope to direct the unspent funds we have to other projects in Marinette that can be delivered more quickly.
Navy officials are currently conducting a fleet design review for the design and development of new systems. It is also stated that the Navy needs 73 small surface destroyers.
Constellation class frigate program
The process, which started in 2020 with the award of a contract to Marinette to build Constellation, progressed with an accelerated design study after a six-year evaluation period. Although the design adopted a basic framework based on the French and Italian FREMM design, significant revisions were made as the project progressed due to security and defense requirements. These changes postponed the delivery of the first ship from 2026 to 2029 and increased the project cost by approximately $1.5 billion.
